Unions Walk to Beat Cervical Cancer

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Union members comprised the largest delegation at last Saturday's "Beat the Clock" walk against cervical cancer at the Tidal Basin. Metropolitan Washington Council President Jos Williams and Community Services Agency Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy set the pace for the union walkers, who made up close to half the 300 people registered for the walk. The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) team, led by DC CLUW, included so many participants that it easily walked away with a $2,500 challenge grant to fund cervical cancer education. Tamika and Friends, which organized the second annual event and works to educate women about HPV and its link to cervical cancer – dedicated the walk to labor activist Susan Ellen Holleran, who died last year of cervical cancer. Holleran was a founder of the original Metropolitan Council Labor Agency, founding CLUW member, former national and DC CLUW officer, and a longtime women's rights and workers' rights activist. Other union walkers included delegations from CSEA Local 1000 who came down from New York City, and a delegation from Tamika's home union, AFSCME Council 20. Also walking were members of the CWA, the Machinists and OPEIU. The unions and their friends and supporters raised nearly $4,000 for educating women about HPV and its link to cervical cancer, as well as for supporting women who have been diagnosed with the disease. Click here for Quick Facts on How to Prevent Cervical Cancer.
- report by Carolyn J. Jacobson